1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sensor component housing including a tube section with a tube wall, as well as a method to produce a sensor component housing and a device to accommodate and/or conduct a fluid or gaseous medium with a sensor component housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the current state of the art different types of sensors, for example temperature sensors are used to detect the characteristics of a medium, for example a fluid or a gas. The mediums whose physical properties, for example the temperature, are to be sensed are conducted, for example, in a line system or stored in a container, for example a tank.
To quickly capture the physical properties, for example the temperature, the sensors were hitherto arranged on the side of the feedthrough which is located near the medium, in other words near the fluid or respectively the gas.
A sensor which is arranged in this way is exposed to the medium, in other words the fluid or respectively the gas. If the system is one wherein a certain pressure is built up, then the sensors are also exposed to the pressures. An arrangement of this type is particularly problematic if the mediums are aggressive mediums, for example acids and/or if there are high pressures in the system. In such a case in a so-called arrangement of the sensors on the medium side of the feedthrough, expensive special sensors must be used.
An additional disadvantage of sensors located on the medium side can be found in that in the event of defects, sensors arranged in this manner can only be accessed with difficulty or not at all. Calibration is also only possible with great effort.
Alternatively to an arrangement of the sensors on the medium side, sensors, for example temperature sensors, can also be arranged on the outside wall of a container, for example a tank or a line. In an arrangement outside the medium there is however the problem of measurement inaccuracies. An additional problem is that when a sensor is arranged on the outside wall of, for example, the line or the tank, temperature changes cannot be detected accurately. One reason for this is the large thermal mass of the line or respectively the tank which leads to a considerable sluggishness and does not allow detection of rapid temperature changes.
Instead of an arrangement on the outside wall of the line or respectively the tank, the sensors can also be placed in the line in a special sensor housing, whereby the sensor in the sensor housing is arranged on the side facing away from the medium. An arrangement of this type is described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,264. The sensor known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,264 essentially serves to determine the volumetric proportion of one substance in a mixture of two substances. From U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,264 one sensor in particular has become known with which a temperature of a flowing medium or respectively its entire composition can be measured in a tube.
An additional sensor is known from US Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0121323A1 with which the concentration of additives or contaminations in oil can be determined. The sensor according to US Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0121323A1 includes a housing component which is connected with a line in such a way that an electrode is accommodated by the housing component hermetically sealed. A temperature measurement is not disclosed in US Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0121323A1; also no other types of sensors.
A device with a sensor component has become known from US Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0186501 A1 which comprises a tubular sensor component housing. The sensor component housing has a tube wall and at least one opening introduced into the tube wall, into which a feedthrough for a sensor component can be inserted. An interior tube embedded into the sensor housing component is used in particular as the sensor component. If the sensor housing component in its embodiment of outside tube is connected to a potential and the interior tube in the embodiment of the sensor component is connected to another potential then a capacitance measurement can be conducted which provides information in regard to the composition of the medium passing through the sensor component.
The sensor component housing according to US Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0186501 is manufactured from a round blank by means of machining, for example turning or milling. Producing the sensor component housing according to US Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0186501 A1 by means of a turning or milling process is however very expensive. Moreover, there are high material losses of up to 75% from blank to finished part. The arrangement of the tube ends and, in particular, their connection for example to fuel lines is also problematic.
What is needed in the art is a sensor component housing, for example for a device with a sensor component, with which the previously described disadvantages of the current state of the art, in particular in the form of US Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0186501A1 can be overcome. A sensor component housing is to be specified, for example, which requires minimal production costs and which can be securely connected at the ends, for example to a line, such as a fuel line.